The Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes, which makes up the core of the story of Hanukkah, lasted from 167 to 160 BCE, but conflict between the Judeans and the Syria-based Greek-speaking empire continued for decades thereafter. Among the subsequent wars described in the first book of Maccabees is that which occurred when Diodotus Tryphon ruled the Seleucid empire. A stone, roughly 1.2 inches long and meant to be used in slingshot, bears witness to this conflict, as the Times of Israel reports:

According to numerous critics, many of whom have positions at prestigious think tanks and publications, the normalization agreements the Jewish state reached with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain constituted an abandonment of the Palestinians. Peter Berkowitz argues that, to the contrary, the Abraham Accords can help to improve the lot of the Palestinians, and to reduce the intensity of their conflict with Israel: